Suppose you are interested in history of Bengal. You have nourished a desire of visiting Karnasubarna. Finally, you have managed a day off from your busy work schedule. Now let’s look at what’ll happen next.
You’ll board a local train for Karnasubarna railway station, very close to Berhampore. Throughout the journey, your mind will roam in the glorious days of ancient Bengal. Images of the majestic capital of King Sasanka will keep sparkling in your brain. Stories of famous mahabiharas, temples, narrations of Xuen Zhang, the political game of post-Gupta era ancient India will make you more and more eager. Finally you’ll get down at a very much featureless rural station like countless others. You’ll reach the main archeological mound till discovered, Rajbari danga. And at this moment, your dreams will shatter in a moment to find out a mound with excavated brick walls and wells of 7th century, covered in grass and dirt. Cows are roaming, clothes are being washed, local tournaments ongoing all in front of a rusty board set by ASI in 1989 to declare that this was the famous Raktamrittika Mahabihar. You’ll ask locals more about the area. May be some old people will barely remember some excavations 30-40 years back. And remember, this same fate is shared by almost all the archeological sites of Bengal.
What else:
If you think mismanagement is the most serious issue here, you are painstakingly wrong. Most of the sites haven’t seen excavation even for 40- 50 years. The orders of ASI not to harm the site lies in the same rust with the board. Bricks and stones of the mounds are casually used by locals for housing, road making. Ancient ponds and river bases unearthed by excavation become personal property. And on the top of this is the smuggling of ancient sculptures, figurines, coins, ornaments illegally excavated from those sites. Due to sky high international demand of these artifacts, organised gangs come into play here. You’ll often hear about some Durga idol of Pala era auctioned in Cristies at 67 million dollars, or mother goddess figurine of Mourya era showcased in Met Museum, New York. But you’ll never know that the Durga idol was smuggled from North Bengal or that Mother goddess was once worshipped in Chandraketugar, North 24 parganas.
Why such negligence:
The foremost cause is profound ignorance of mass population regarding our own history. Nobody cares about some 2000 year old piles of brick at a corner of their home village, unless rumors of some gold coins are there.
State archeology and central archeology almost never works hand in hand. Many sites are protected by ASI. So state archeological Institutes don’t bother and ASI scholars are too busy.
History is one of the narratives influenced by political agendas. And there is no giant in Indian politics to put a fight for Ancient Bengal amidst the age long fight of left and right wing historians.
Funds are often inadequate for maintenance. There is no interdepartmental correlation regarding which artefacts of which site are kept where. So easy to smuggle when all lay astray, isn’t it?
Solution:
First of all, bee aware about your history, your heritage. Raise voice to protect it. Often simple small steps of awareness are sufficient. And if it’s not, if smuggling and destruction are beyond our control, let’s question the government. If in a background of communal riot, a government can establish a new temple or humongous statue worth billions, it can certainly protect these ancient sites. And it should. Shouldn’t it?
